Salsa Verde, I Heart You.

I've been spending alot of time in the kitchen lately - trying out new recipes. The kitchen is one of my happy places. I needed to put together a quick sauce to drizzle over skirt steak and had all of the ingredients needed for salsa verde.

Salsa verde is not the Mexican green salsa you may be thinking of, this one is a classic green sauce from Italy. It's versatile and easily adaptable to what you have in your pantry. I referred to Alice Water's book, The Art of Simple Food, for some direction. The result is a simple sauce - fresh, mouthwatering, a little briny, flavored with parsley, lemon zest, garlic, capers and olive oil.  Add a little bit of chopped anchovy for an extra kick.  I drizzled it over some skirt steak, but it would be delicious over grilled chicken, fish, lamb or over scrambled eggs. It won't last long, that's for sure.

Salsa Verde (by Alice Waters)

1/3 c. coarsely chopped parsley

grated zest of one lemon

1 small garlic clove, finely chopped or minced

1 tbs. capers, drained and rinsed, chopped

1/2 tsp. salt

freshly ground pepper to taste

1/2 c. olive oil

1 anchovy, finely chopped (optional)

Mix well and taste for salt.  Let the sauce sit for a while to develop the flavors.

Budget Bustin' Weeknight Meal.

Like the rest of the U.S. population, I too, am trying to be creative in my kitchen. Not only creative in a culinary sense, but also when it comes to my pocketbook. We all have our "go-to" recipes, a few winners that we know we could bust out at anytime. It's been quite some time since I've made this one myself, but it's one of my most favorite chicken dishes. It's great during the week or if you're planning on inviting a few friends over for a feast.

Indonesian Ginger Chicken is easily one of my kitchen hat tricks and tonight I busted it out. Chicken parts are marinated overnight in a sauce of ginger, garlic, honey and soy sauce. Could it get any simpler than that? You bake it for 30 minutes covered and then bake it for another 30 minutes uncovered. And you end up with super moist chicken. It's sweet, almost decadent and well, slightly addictive. The sauce alone is worth its weight in gold. I usually make rice to go with it since it soaks up all those yummy juices and extra sauce. And trust me there is plenty of sauce to drizzle around your plate. Bon appetit!